Wed., Nov. 4 Public meetings: Dockside Village hearing, Bellaire (7 p.m.)Cairn Club zoning hearing, Kewadin (7 p.m.)Bellaire Village Council (sewage plant) (7 p.m.)Kearney Township zoning meeting (7 p.m.)Elk Rapids Village Council (6:30 p.m.)

The Torch Lake Observer
Sewer & water · The Chain of Lakes

How the water moves through the Chain of Lakes

Bellaire’s village plant, Shanty Creek’s two plants and the sewage system proposed for Dockside all lie in the area the Chain of Lakes drains. Bellaire’s treated sewage goes to a wetland that connects to the Intermediate River; Dockside’s would go to groundwater at the Clam River mouth; where Shanty Creek’s groundwater goes is not established. Here is how the water moves and where each plant stands.

By Observer Staff · Checked Nov. 3, 2026

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Water in the Chain of Lakes travels about 55 miles to Grand Traverse Bay and drops roughly 40 feet (2022 watershed plan). It starts at Beals Lake, east of Central Lake, runs north through Scotts, Six Mile and St. Clair lakes, then turns south near Ellsworth, through Intermediate Lake, Lake Bellaire, Clam Lake and Torch Lake, and leaves through Lake Skegemog, Elk Lake and the Elk River.

Map of the Antrim County Chain of Lakes Water flows from small headwater lakes in a line through the Ellsworth area in the north, south into Intermediate Lake, through the Intermediate River and Lake Bellaire, down the Grass River to Clam Lake, then into Torch Lake, and out through the Torch River to Lake Skegemog, Elk Lake and the Elk River to Grand Traverse Bay. Marked on the map: the Bellaire and Shanty Creek sewage plants and the proposed Dockside and BaseCamp plant. Beals Scotts Six Mile St. Clair Ellsworth Wilson Ben-way Hanley Intermediate Lake Lake Bellaire Clam Lake Torch Lake Lake Skegemog Elk Lake Ellsworth (village) Central Lake Bellaire (village) Eastport Kewadin Elk Rapids Alden B S D E C Headwater lakes in a line north of Intermediate Lake To Grand Traverse Bay through Elk Rapids Dam 5 miles N
Map of the Antrim County Chain of Lakes Water flows from small headwater lakes in a line through the Ellsworth area in the north, south into Intermediate Lake, through the Intermediate River and Lake Bellaire, down the Grass River to Clam Lake, then into Torch Lake, and out through the Torch River to Lake Skegemog, Elk Lake and the Elk River to Grand Traverse Bay. Marked on the map: the Bellaire and Shanty Creek sewage plants and the proposed Dockside and BaseCamp plant. Intermediate Lake Lake Bellaire Clam Lake Torch Lake Lake Skegemog Elk Lake B S D E C Headwater lakes in a line north of Intermediate Lake To Grand Traverse Bay through Elk Rapids Dam 5 miles N
  • Plant with a state order, violation notice or inspection letter on record
  • Proposed plant, no permit yet
  • Other plant on the state’s permit list
  • Main flow; arrows show direction

Not on the map: Ellsworth’s planned sewer system, which has no site. S marks the main Shanty Creek plant; the Schuss Mountain plant is about three miles away and isn’t marked. C marks the Central Lake plant’s discharge point from its state application.

Lake and river shapes: U.S. Geological Survey, National Hydrography Dataset. Plant locations: the Observer’s project pages and the Elk Rapids plant’s state permit. Order of the lakes: Elk River Chain of Lakes Watershed Management Plan, 2022, p. 4.

  1. Headwater lakes

    From Beals Lake north past Ellsworth, then south

    The chain begins at Beals Lake. Water runs through Beals, Scotts, Six Mile, St. Clair, Ellsworth, Wilson, Ben-way and Hanley lakes toward Intermediate Lake, with many smaller lakes and streams feeding in along the way (2022 watershed plan).

    Not on the map · planned, stalled

    Village of Ellsworth

    Ellsworth Lake and St. Clair Lake lie inside the village, which has no public sewer: its master plan says residents “rely on private, on-site septic systems,” and calls them “an area of partial concern due to the compact development in the downtown and the proximity to the lakes.” In 2024 the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program approved money for a wastewater system; news reports put it at a $5.5 million grant and a $2.1 million loan (secondary). The village’s December 2025 master plan and January 2026 capital plan still call the sewer a high priority. But its council minutes show the project stalled. In August 2025 the village’s engineer said the lagoon first planned was “far too expensive” and a community drain field, which discharges to groundwater, was “the only affordable option.” The June 2026 minutes say the village president “has a meeting set” with the engineering firm “to tell them to stop work on sewer system,” and the July minutes say the firm “plans to turn all of the records concerning the sewer project to the village.” We found no site, state permit application or discharge plan.

  2. Intermediate Lake and the Intermediate River

    About 3 miles to Lake Bellaire (the plan lists 3.3); Bellaire Dam is 1.5 miles down

    The Cedar River joins above Bellaire Dam. The county has owned the dam since 1971; its gates are open most of the year, and the county holds Intermediate Lake at its court-ordered level.

    Permit expired in 2020 · receiving water not named

    Central Lake village plant

    Each customer keeps a septic tank; the tank water travels by sewer lines to a community drainfield on M-88, where it soaks into the ground (EGLE inspection letter, 2018). The state permit allows 45,920 gallons a day to groundwater; the village’s 2020 renewal application reported a four-year average of 16,742. The permit expired June 1, 2020 and is “Extended,” with a renewal in process since Jan. 21, 2020. No document we could get names a lake or stream the groundwater reaches, or which way it flows. A 1999 state hydrogeologist’s memo says a study “demonstrated that the discharge will not impact residential wells nor surface water quality in the area” (we have not seen the study). The drainfield has aged: the village’s master plan says some cells show “ponding and other indicators of reduced infiltrative capacity,” and an engineer wrote in March 2025 that the drainfield had been removed from the scope of a pump-station project and was “being evaluated for alternate options and funding.” The village’s public works page also lists a $2.1 million USDA sewer bond, for which we found no document.

    Under a state order since 2023

    Village of Bellaire plant

    Pipes carry treated sewage to a wetland that connects to the Intermediate River. Six releases of partly treated sewage since 2022; 10.56 million gallons in April 2026. Whether the wetland’s outlet is above or below the dam isn’t established. Read the project →

  3. Lake Bellaire

    1,789 acres · 95 ft deep · phosphorus 4.02 µg/L · clarity 14.1 ft

    After the April 2026 release, the health department advised people not to fish or eat fish from Lake Bellaire and the surrounding area (9&10 News, secondary).

  4. Grass River

    About 2.3 miles to Clam Lake
    Permits expired in 2020 · drainage not confirmed

    Shanty Creek Resort’s two plants

    Both discharge to groundwater, not to a river. No state document says where that groundwater goes. A 2005 volunteer report describes runoff from a 2.6-square-mile Shanty Creek watershed in Kearney Township as draining west to the Grass River; it does not mention the plants, which are in Custer Township. Whether the plants’ groundwater follows the same path has not been shown. The main plant’s five September 2026 phosphorus tests were all over the 1.0 mg/L limit; its comment on each date was that it was cleaning an alum tank. Read the project →

  5. Clam Lake and the Clam River

    437 acres · 27 ft deep · phosphorus 5.08 µg/L · clarity 16.4 ft
    Proposed · no state permit yet

    Dockside and BaseCamp shared plant

    At the Clam River mouth on Torch Lake. The state application has been in process since May 6, 2026 (181 days as of Nov. 3), and the township voted June 4 not to take the system over. Read the Dockside story →

  6. Torch Lake

    18,473 acres · 302 ft deep per the plan (another source says 287) · no dam

    The clearest water in the chain: average clarity 26 feet, the best of any lake in the plan’s tables. Average phosphorus is 2.95 µg/L; Lake Skegemog (2.63) and Elk Lake (2.42) average slightly lower. The plan rates all three “oligotrophic,” meaning low productivity. Torch Lake’s water lasts about 15 years before it is replaced (2005 volunteer report, secondary).

    Study results not yet released

    Torch Lake Protection Alliance and U.S. Geological Survey

    Sampling has run monthly since 2023 (Michigan Lakes & Streams Association article, undated). Antrim County agreed Jan. 15, 2026 to act as fiscal agent at no cost to the county, and amended the agreement Aug. 20. In July the alliance’s president called its three-year Keep Torch Lake Blue study “recently concluded” and said details would come “in the near future.” We found no published results.

  7. Torch River to Grand Traverse Bay

    Skegemog, Elk Lake, the Elk River, then the Elk Rapids Dam

    The Torch River (2.3 miles) runs to Lake Skegemog, then Elk Lake, then the Elk River (1.6 miles) through the village of Elk Rapids. The county-owned Elk Rapids Dam is the last control before East Grand Traverse Bay.

    Permit expired in 2024

    Elk Rapids wastewater plant

    Designed for 0.582 million gallons a day (the permit says design flow is not a limit); discharges to the Elk River. July 2026 phosphorus: 1.5 mg/L against a 1.0 limit, which the village’s own report ties to returning lagoon water to the plant.

What isn’t measured yet

We found no published source that says how much of Bellaire’s or Shanty Creek’s discharge reaches Clam or Torch Lake. In April 2022, after an earlier Bellaire release, the Record-Eagle reported that an EGLE spokesman, Jeff Johnston, said investigations were ongoing and that, for now, there was no reason to believe the release threatened the Intermediate River or the lakes downstream (Apr. 29, 2022, secondary). That was about the first of six releases since 2022. The Torch Lake study measures water entering at the Clam River, so it could bear on this; it has not said.

Lake figures: Elk River Chain of Lakes Watershed Management Plan, 2022: long-term averages of volunteer and agency readings through about 2019. “Oligotrophic” means low productivity; Lake Bellaire and Clam Lake are “mesotrophic,” or moderate. Lake figures are in micrograms per liter (µg/L); plant limits are in milligrams per liter (mg/L); 1 mg/L = 1,000 µg/L. Plant records: EGLE MiEnviro, checked Nov. 1–3, 2026. Dam facts: Antrim County’s dams newsletter (Oct. 2025) and the Three Lakes Association’s spring 2025 newsletter. Study facts: Antrim County Board of Commissioners minutes (Jan. 15 and Aug. 20, 2026) and the alliance’s July 28, 2026 release.

All the sewage plants and their permits → · Your township or village → · What we’re watching →